| Hills House | |
|---|---|
 Hills House | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Residential |
| Architectural style | Netherlandish Classicism |
| Location | Denham, Buckinghamshire |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Brick |
| Floor count | 3 |
Hills House is a 17th-century residence located on the Village Road in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, it was the home of actress Merle Oberon and her husband, the film producer Sir Alexander Korda. In 1975 the house was purchased by Sir John and Lady Mills.
The house is built of red brick with a tile roof. It has four gables facing the street, alternately shaped and stepped, and features three storeys. The sections of the house frontage differ. The left section has six double-hung, flush windows with glazing bars, flat brick arches and small brick cornice mouldings. The right section windows have cambered brick relieving arches. The ground floor has an entrance door with wooden architrave and hood on carved brackets. The gables have brick copings and the ground and first floor have brick bands. The interior is reported to feature a semi-circular recess with fluted pilasters and moulded cornice and newel staircase in oak. The exterior is partially covered with wisteria vine.
The house is listed as Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. [1] A plaque placed on the house by The Heritage Foundation commemorates Mills's residence. [2]
Alexander Korda (1893–1956) bought the house and estate at Denham for the sum of £15,000, planning to build film studios on the property. He managed to obtain permission for the construction and sent to California for architects to build the studios, Denham Film Studios, which opened in 1936 but suffered from financial difficulties. [3] After Korda's marriage to film star Merle Oberon (1911–1979) in 1939, the couple lived in the house until their divorce in 1945. The area where the film studio stood, known as 'The Fisheries', is now a park. [4] [5]
Sir John Mills bought Hills House in 1975. However, the 4-acre (1.6 ha) garden and the house eventually became too large and the stairs too difficult for the elderly Sir John (1908–2005) and Lady Mills (1911–2005). In 2003 they moved from the house to a bungalow in the village of Denham.
The Private Life of Henry VIII is a 1933 British film directed and co-produced by Alexander Korda and starring Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon and Elsa Lanchester. It was written by Lajos Bíró and Arthur Wimperis for London Film Productions, Korda's production company. The film, which focuses on the marriages of King Henry VIII of England, was a major international success, establishing Korda as a leading filmmaker and Laughton as a box-office star.
Sir Alexander Korda was a Hungarian–born British film director, producer, and screenwriter, who founded his own film production studios and film distribution company.
Merle Oberon was a British actress who began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). After her success in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), she travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel Goldwyn. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Dark Angel (1935). Oberon hid her mixed heritage out of fear of discrimination and the impact it would have had on her career.
Denham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, approximately 17 miles (27 km) from central London, 2 miles (3 km) northwest of Uxbridge and just north of junction 1 of the M40 motorway. The name is derived from the Old English for "homestead in a valley". It was listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Deneham. Denham contains the Buckinghamshire Golf Club.
Eythrope is a hamlet and country house in the parish of Waddesdon, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located to the south east of the main village of Waddesdon. It was bought in the 1870s by a branch of the Rothschild family, and belongs to them to this day.
Denham Film Studios was a British film production studio operating from 1936 to 1952, founded by Alexander Korda, in Buckinghamshire.
Perfect Strangers, is a 1945 British drama film made by London Films. It stars Robert Donat and Deborah Kerr as a married couple whose relationship is shaken by their service in the Second World War. The supporting cast includes Glynis Johns, Ann Todd and Roland Culver. It was produced and directed by Alexander Korda from a screenplay by Clemence Dane and Anthony Pelissier based on a story by Clemence Dane. Dane won the Academy Award for Best Story. The music score was by Clifton Parker and the cinematography by Georges Périnal.
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The Lion Has Wings is a 1939 British, black-and-white, documentary-style, propaganda war film that was directed by Adrian Brunel, Brian Desmond Hurst, Alexander Korda and Michael Powell. The film was produced by London Film Productions and Alexander Korda Film Productions and 'was preparing the nation [for war] and shining a light on the power of the RAF'.
I, Claudius is an unfinished 1937 film adaptation of the novels I, Claudius (1934) and Claudius the God (1935) by Robert Graves. Produced by Alexander Korda, the film was directed by Josef von Sternberg, with Charles Laughton in the title role. The production was dogged by adverse circumstances, culminating in a car accident involving co-star Merle Oberon that caused filming to be ended before completion. Footage from the production was incorporated into a 1965 documentary on the making of the film The Epic That Never Was.
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Washington Avenue Historic District is the historic center of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, the location of the early industry and commerce that was key to the community's development. The historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1986.
The Wick is a Grade I listed Georgian house in Richmond, Greater London, located at the corner of Nightingale Lane and Richmond Hill. The house, designed in 1775 by architect Robert Mylne for Lady St. Aubyn, was for many years the family home of actor Sir John Mills, who sold it to Ronnie Wood of the rock band Faces in 1971. From 1996 it was owned by Pete Townshend of the Who who sold it in 2021 for £15,000,000
9 Mill Street is a Georgian house in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The present building dates from around 1736 and is a grade II* listed building. Nikolaus Pevsner calls it a "fine, spacious" house, and the English Heritage listing describes it as a "substantial and well-detailed early, C18 Town House, which ... retains much original interior fabric." Formerly a town house, bank and political club, it is currently a restaurant and bar.
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Oxhey Chapel is a redundant Anglican chapel in Oxhey, Hertfordshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The chapel stands, surrounded by 1940s housing in South Oxhey between a modern church and its vicarage, some 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the centre of Watford.
Hawridge Windmill which is also known as Cholesbury Windmill is a disused tower mill in Hawridge, Buckinghamshire. The mill was constructed on the site of an earlier smock mill and became a private residence in 1913 when the first occupier, the writer Gilbert Cannan used it as a studio.
The block of three buildings containing The Tabard public house is a Grade II* listed structure in Chiswick, London. The block, with a row of seven gables in its roof, was designed by Norman Shaw in 1880 as part of the community focus of the Bedford Park garden suburb. The block contains the Bedford Park Stores, once a co-operative, and a house for the manager.
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